1933 Ford Roadster - Shockwave

Since 1950, the promoters of the Grand National Roadster Show have presented the America's Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR) award to the top The initial recipients were home-brews based on race-car motifs. As the Oakland gathering became more spectator-driven, the entrants changed to purpose-built showmobiles. With few exceptions, the one-off formula continues today and is aptly illustrated by Fred Warren's "Shockwave," Oakland's 50th Anniversary AMBR winner.

Technically, Warren's wonder began nine years ago during a student design project at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. The Chrysler Corporation sponsored a design competition at the college and selected then-student Chip Foose's teardrop-shaped model as the winner. Foose would later collaborate with his father Sam, Boyd Coddington, and Troy Trepanier on a number of trendsetting rods and based his model on the amalgamation of shapes gleaned from a '33 Plymouth three-window coupe and a '70 Cuda. In fact, Foose's model appeared on page 14 in HRM's April '91 swimsuit issue and served as a preview of the Plymouth Prowler and the creation of Warren's Shockwave.

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"Warren was in my office when he saw my Chrysler [student] project drawing," remembers Foose, "and he wanted me to design a '33 coupe based on my design. Well, I wanted to do that coupe myself, so I offered to do the roadster that was also a part of my presentation and appointed Petey Morrell as the project manager."

Shockwave features the radically laid-back '33 Plymouth-like grille as per the model and the equally altered silhouette of a '70 Cuda. SAC fabricated the side rails, while Larry Sergejeff welded up the tubular crossmembers. When the chassis was complete, Foose constructed the body-forming fixture (buck) over the chassis, and Marcel De Lay rough-shaped the shell from 18-gauge steel. The steel and aluminum body was then finished by Roy Schmidt, Robin Hermanson, and Ralph Kirby, who also created the headlight buckets, windshield frame, hidden license plate, and grille surround. Dan Fink contributed the polished stainless steel grille that partially hides the pushrod-actuated coilover shocks.

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Obviously Shockwave is fender-free, topless, and freakish about details. Yet by reducing a roadster to its essence, it becomes the hardest car to build. The shape, stance, proportions, fit, and finish must be superb because there is no place to hide, disguise, or minimize mistakes.

It's not hard to see how well the fit and the 3/16-inch gaps were maintained throughout or how well the bottom of the frame conforms to the bottom of the body or how the body rakes from front to rear. The finish is a wowzer too, thanks to Greg Morrell's PPG-based four-part (basecoat, pearl coat, candy coat, and clearcoat) "Tangerscream." Shockwave's interior, stuffed with Paul Atkins-stitched Ferrari-style saddle-tan leather, provides a perfect low-key contrast. It also features a subtle custom-built dashpanel with Classic gauges, the obligatory billet-aluminum steering wheel, and chrome steel pedals. A pair of Karl Johasson-fabricated rearview mirrors dangle from either side.

Unfortunately, the Andy Wallen- smoothed-and-detailed 350-inch LT4 engine is for looks only-the function of a showmobile is to be flaw-free at all times, unsullied by a single blemish, scratch, discoloration, or imperfection. So it's no big deal that Shockwave doesn't operate under its own power or make the round trip from California Street Rods (where it was assembled) to the Grand National Roadster Show (where it won). It lives in a trailer and must be pushed by gloved hands to its power-parking spot. The only criteria is how hard it was to do and how well it was done-precisely what Shockwave is all about.